It’s been two days since a 24-year-old man tried to break into Sonya Deville’s house, and now the Friday Night SmackDown star has given more details about what happened early Sunday morning at her Florida home. Deville successfully filed for an injunction against Phillip Thomas on Monday, and the Tampa Bay Times shared Deville’s details of the incident on Tuesday. According to Deville, her house’s security alarm went off an hour after she went to sleep. After the alarm was set off she rushed into the guest room to check on Mandy Rose, who was staying with her, then ran to the back door to make sure the screen door to the backyard was locked. That was when she spotted Thomas.
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“‘What are doing, what do you want?’” Deville said she yelled at Thomas. “That is when I realized this person was not here to rob me, he was there to hurt me.”
As Thomas began to approach her, Deville grabbed her car keys and she and Rose ran to her car in the garage. The two sped away and called 911. Deville said after she saw the security footage, she learned Thomas had tried to chase her but went upstairs by mistake.
“But he thought I ran up the stairs, leaving me and my friend just enough time to escape,” Deville wrote.
She also recapped her reaction to seeing Thomas’ behavior on social media, which included hundreds of messages addressed to her.
“The nature of the messages from this account were obsessive, suicidal, idolizing, saying, ‘You are the only person I will ever love,’” Deville wrote.
She found a separate account she believed belonged to Thomas that had threatening messages like “Look outside, baby, by your pool. I’m here. I’m gonna kill that little bโ you have inside with you.”
When the police arrived Thomas was still inside the house. They found a knife, mace, plastic zip ties and duct tape on his person when he was arrested. He later told police he had been planning a kidnapping for roughly eight months.
A pre-trial hearing for Thomas will take place on Thursday. Deville took to Twitter shortly after the news broke.
Thank you everyone for your love and concern. A very frightening experience but thankfully everyone is safe. A special thank you to Hillsborough County Sheriffโs Office for their response and assistance. ๐ค
โ Daddy Deville (@SonyaDevilleWWE) August 17, 2020